If he was too ill to do anything for his support in
prison, they would allow him nothing but bread and water, and very little
of that.
They say that society is foolish in refusing to allow itself to be
benefited by a man merely because he has done it harm hitherto, and that
objection to the labour of the diseased classes is only protection in
another form. It is an attempt to raise the natural price of a commodity
by saying that such and such persons, who are able and willing to produce
it, shall not do so, whereby every one has to pay more for it.
Besides, so long as a man has not been actually killed he is our fellow-
creature, though perhaps a very unpleasant one. It is in a great degree
the doing of others that he is what he is, or in other words, the society
which now condemns him is partly answerable concerning him. They say
that there is no fear of any increase of disease under these
circumstances; for the loss of liberty, the surveillance, the
considerable and compulsory deduction from the prisoner's earnings, the
very sparing use of stimulants (of which they would allow but little to
any, and none to those who did not earn them), the enforced celibacy, and
above all, the loss of reputation among friends, are in their opinion as
ample safeguards to society against a general neglect of health as those
now resorted to.
Pages:
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154